Summary: The Lordship of Jesus Christ is both a "here" as well as a "hereafter" issue.

Lessons In Lordship Part 4

Jesus is Savior & Lord Part 2

Introduction: Last week we saw from five different perspectives how the roles of Savior and Lord were connected in the life of Jesus Christ. Let me just review those with you quickly as we get started this morning.

1. Jesus was Declared Both Savior and Lord at His Birth.

2. Jesus was Declared Lord by John the Baptist

3. Jesus Declared His Lordship along with His Commission.

4. Jesus was Declared Lord at Pentecost.

5. Jesus’ Lordship is for All People.

This morning I want to give you three more perspectives on the Lordship of Christ, and then I want to go back to Philippians 2 and share with you some practical applications and implications that the Lordship of Jesus Christ has on our lives.

Let’s begin in the Book of Ephesians, chapter 1. Our first principle today has to do with our perspective on time. Time is a funny thing, it can either seem to drag on forever or just fly by and your perspective will often dictate how you view it. The same thing is true about Lordship. Here’s what I mean:

The Lordship of Jesus Christ is both a "here-and-now" as well as a "hereafter" issue.

Ephesians 1:18-23

20He demonstrated this power in the Messiah by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavens 21far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22And He put everything under His feet and appointed Him as head over everything for the church, 23which is His body, the fullness of the One who fills all things in every way.

Did you catch the time reference? Jesus’ Lordship is every bit as much about the present age as it is the age to come. Some give the devil way to much credit and imply that somehow he is in charge of the world and that one day Jesus will come back and change all that. Let me tell you something, Satan isn’t in charge of anything! Jesus Christ is Lord! And His rule and reign are every bit as valid today as they will be in the age to come.

The challenge is what are we doing with our time here-and-now? If Jesus is far above every ruler and authority if He has power and dominion why isn’t that reflected in our daily lives? I want us as followers of Jesus Christ to accept the responsibility of showing our community the right way to live. We must quit complaining about the world acting like the world and start asking ourselves why the church isn’t acting like the church.

6. Lordship is still an option.

One of the things that I have found interesting in this whole study on Lordship is how verses that we are very familiar with haven’t moved us to a greater understanding and application of this principle. Let me show you what I mean. Turn with me to Romans 10. This is a passage that we are used to hearing in connection with salvation. In fact, it is the final stop on what we sometimes call the Roman Road.

3:23 All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

5:8 God demonstrates His love for us in this that while we were still sinners Christ died for our sins.

6:23 The wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 10:8-10

8On the contrary, what does it say? The message is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. This is the message of faith that we proclaim: 9if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10With the heart one believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses, resulting in salvation.

Isn’t it interesting that in this verse that is used for some much evangelism has Jesus’ Lordship written all over it! Wouldn’t we all be better off if when we talked about getting saved we gave equal time to the implications of what a relationship with the Lord really means.

It’s not too late! Lordship is still an option. We need to make a commitment to give a full picture of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ, what it means to be a Christian. While salvation may be freethe expectations of Lordship will cost us our lives!

7. Saying "Lord" isn’t enough.

As I have studied and prayed about this issue of Lordship one of the reoccurring thoughts that I have battled with is how many people are there who SAY they are a Christian, but aren’t really saved? The question is one that we ought to ask when we consider Jesus’ words in Matthew 7. Turn there if you would. Look at verse 21...

Matthew 7:21

21Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven.

Saying LORD isn’t enough. This is one of the saddest statements in all of scripture. What could be worse than to think that your eternal hope was secure based on what you said and did only to find out that what you said and did weren’t truly centered in Jesus Christ. Being religious and doing religious stuff isn’t going to impress God. He knows your heart, and only a heart of genuine obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ is going to inherit eternal life.

It is not my job to be a judge of the hearts of others, but it is my responsibility to preach and teach the truth of God’s Word. And God’s Word is clear: Jesus Christ is Lord and one day ALL will know it and proclaim it

This is where we started a couple of weeks ago when we read Philippians 2:10-11. I want us to go back there today and read the verses that precede the passage we read in our first lesson on Lordship. And then I want to offer some applications thoughts from the example of Jesus.

Philippians 2:5-11

5Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, 6who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. 7Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, 8He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even to death on a cross.

9For this reason God also highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth 11and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

I want to propose to you that we can take the example of Christ and apply to our lives and see 7 Steps that lead to Acknowledging the Lordship of Christ:

Leave a life that you control

Empty your life of anything that will keep you from your purpose

Serve God and others

Accept that you are who you are

Humble yourself by seeing God and others rightly

Obey no matter what

Die to self and everything that is not for the Lord

We could spend an entire sermon looking at each one of these, but what I wanted you to see is that Jesus Himself is the pattern for our understanding how to respond to and acknowledge His Lordship over our lives.

What I want us to do know is to move from our heads and our hearts to our feet to begin looking for ways to apply Lordship to our lives.

8. Acknowledging His Lordship is a daily exercise.

What we need to do know is begin connecting Lordship and Obedience. In other words we need to start figuring out how to apply all this stuff we’ve been studying. I want to use one more passage of scripture to wrap things up today and set the stage for next week.

1 Timothy 6:13-16 (HCSB)

13In the presence of God, who gives life to all, and before Christ Jesus, who gave a good confession before Pontius Pilate, I charge you 14to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15which God will bring about in His own time. He is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, 16the only One who has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom none of mankind has seen or can see, to whom be honor and eternal might. Amen.

Jesus Christ is LORD! There is simply no way to dispute that fact. The question we must begin to ask is: